On average in Ireland 18% of professors are female, whereas 34 % of UL Professors are Women.

International Women’s Day was strongly marked at the University of Limerick with a conference entitled ‘Accelerating Change’ which included addresses from Kathleen O’Toole, Former Chief Inspector, Garda Siochana Inspectorate; Olympic Athlete, Sonia O’Sullivan; Nicola Byrne, CEO and founder of Call 11890 and Paul McNeive, Author and Former CEO Hamilton Osborne King among others. 

The conference, which was organised by the UL Women’s Forum and sponsored by the Human Resources Division, was chaired by Dr John Bowman and dealt with themes including ‘Women in Business – Smashing the Glass Ceiling’ and ‘Women in Higher Education’.   

The University of Limerick has the highest percentage of women at professorial level in the country.  With a national average of female professors at only 18%, at UL 34% of professors are female.  As a result of this The University of Limerick has recently been selected as the only Irish university to participate in FESTA - Female Empowerment in Science and Technology in Academia.  A European Commission FP7 Funded cross national initiative, FESTA is a five year collaborative project with partner universities in Sweden, Denmark, Italy, Germany, Bulgaria and Turkey.  FESTA is concerned with implementing changes in the working environment of academic researchers, to encourage female researchers to stay and make a career in the academy and to create organizational environments where their competence is valued and fostered. In particular, the European initiative will seek to address the working environment of researchers in the lower levels of their careers, to make it possible for them to advance to the ranks of highest scientific expertise.

Speaking from the UL International Women’s Day Conference, UL President Professor Don Barry said: “In 2007, UL set targets for female representation, which I am proud to say that we have greatly exceeded.  The target for the proportion of women at Senior Lecturer or above was set at 15%, and we have achieved 26%, while a target of 37% was set for the proportion of women at Lecturer Level and 48% has been achieved.  A university is about more than just buildings and facilities – it is the people who give universities life – they create a sense of energy and they provide the power to achieve great things. As you will be aware, in UL we are committed to ensuring that all faculty and staff are enabled to achieve their full potential through valuing diversity and equality of opportunity.”

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